Means for controlling dirigible torpedoes.



L. E. '(IUS'IER.V MEANS FOR UONTROLLING DIBIGIBLE TORPBDOBS. i APPLIGATION FILED JULY 23, 190e. 9 l 3,8 1 4 f Patented Mar. 2, 1909. 4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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i EN L. E. CUSTEBL` MEANS I OR GONTROLLING DIRIGIBLE TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1906. l I l Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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I. i Guen-ww L. E. GUSTER. MEANS FOR'CONTROLLING DI'RIGIBLE TORPBDOES. s

. l APPLIGATION'PILBD JULY 2a, 1906. v f

91338141J A PatentedManZ, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET a'.

i L. E. CUSTER. -Y MEANS FOR GONTROLLING DIRIGIBLE TORPEDOES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 23, 1906.

Patented M2112, 1909.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

LEVITT E. CUSTER, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

MANS FOR CONTROLLNG DIRIGIBLE TORPEDQES.

Specicaton of Letters .Patent l' Eateoted March 2, i909.

Application filed July 23, 1906. Serial No. 327,284.

To all whom 'it may concern: Be it 'known that I, LEvITr E. CUs'rEn, a citizen of the United States, residing at llayton,v in the county oi Montgomery and State of Chio, have invented certain neviT and useful Improvements in Means for Con trolling Dirigible Toipedoes; and I do declare the following to be a lull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Willenable others skilled in the art `to which it appertains to make and use the same, ref @rence being had to theaeeonipanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which forni a part of this specifi cation.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in Wireless telegrapny, and incre particularly relatesto means for conm trolling the steering mechanism oi' iloating bodies, such as a torpedo, balloon., etc.

The objects of the invention are to provide in a Wireless telegraphy system for the above purpose, lrst; rneans comprising an auxiliary deeohercr for positively insuring a reversal of the current in the motor by which the tor edo rudder is actuated through relays an'L other mechanism; secondly-ineens for preventing Hertz Waves generated 'at other transmitting stations, inllucncing the niotor-reversing mechanism; and tliiidlywmeans for observing -from a distance the direction and path ol travel of the torpedo; A

Preeeding a detail description ofthe inf vention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, of which-- Figure l, is an illustration ol Well known appliances olY a wireless telegraphy system or transmitting station. f Fig. 2, is 'a diagrammatic viewl of thc electromechanical mechanism el the torpedo. Figs. Eend ft, are detail views ol the dvcoheror and motor-- reversing miwl'ianisiu. iligs. 5 and are detail views ol the auxiliary docohorer. Fig. 7,'is a. roar View olV a lloaliiig torpedo liavinfl anios by which the direction and'.

patlibl' the torpedo may lio olisi'i'r'ved iroiir they transmitting station. Figs. E Q and il), are dizigiaiainati 'views isi details i. the niolora-cruising circuit. ill" il and T23,

are detail viou's ol the switch through which i Fig'. lli. zi i the pilot lamps are controlled.

top p al; View ol' a torpedo provided with hij' desarripiie'n of the intent-ieri,

;lirusli 9 or 'l0 at the saine time.

similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts.

1 designates a torpedo which may he equipped with any means of propulsion, suoli for example, as an electric or compressed air-motor for driving the propeller 3. in the drawings, l have shown an electric motor The torpedo 1 is equipped with a rudder Li' which is controlled byv a motor .5 through gears 6 and Worin gears 7 as shown in Fig. 13.' The-,object of the gears is to reduce the speed of the motor 5 to a lower speed as reversing drinn 7; the circuit is shown in Fig.

2 by a line consisting of dashes with one dot intervening between each two of said dashes. Engaging the reversing lruin are four brushes Seil-10 and ll the brushS is connected to one end oi the motor field while the other 'end is connected to the brush 'il through the storage battery (i 3 the brush 9 is connected to one of the coinniutator brushes, while the other eorniiiutator brush. is con neoted to brush l0. lt will therefore be seen that if the ends of the' brushes 8 and 9 are uioined, and likewise the ends of the brushes 10 and il, there willbe a closed circuit, and if mean-s are employed to join the ends of the brushes 8 and il) and likewise the ends of brushes 9 and il, there willv be a reversa-l of the current in the armature oi the vject-ing from the ring 13 is au ea i5 ada ted to engage the brush 9, and projecting Qroln the ring Mis a similar ear i6 adapted en gage the brush i6. The ears i5 and i6 a directly oppmsite nach other so that each said cars will be ou' i-ged by its rcspecftigrrl width oi 'ea-cli of tiiesc oars is equal to one i l K iotallie platos 'i7 and 151' which are adapiffi to engage tlie'respcrtive brushes i) and iu.

`re uired by the partial revolution of the the diameter of the drum 7.

` brushes 9 and. l0 rest upon.the spaces, the

' motor.

is to secure a certainA amount of latitude from Gti . 2O so that it receives a current in the saine current directly from the brush 11.

tion irorn `that shown in Fig. 9, through the rpg The width of these plates is also'one-fourth of The plate 17 is connected to the ear 16 by a connection 19 so that it receives current in the same direction as the brush 1]., ring 14, and ear 16; the plate 18 is connected to the ear 15 by a connection direction as the brush 8, the ring 1.3 and the ear 15. l'tcferring to Figs. 8 and 9, these connections are shown diagrammatically; in flfig. E), the brushes 9 and 10 are in engagement with their respective ears 15 and 1li' and the brush S will receive current directly from the brush E) while the brush 1.() will receive Ii the drum 7 he given a halirevolution, the brushes t) and 1U will engage their respective plates 17 and 1S as shown in Fig. S, and the brush .f1 will receive current in an. opposite direcplatc 17, the connection 1S), the ear 16 and the ring 14. The brush 13 will receive current in the saine direction in Fig. 9 through the ring 13, ear 15, the connection 20, the plate 1&5 and the brush 10. it wiil'be noted that the lirection oi the current in the armature oi motor only, is reversed, as it is 4well known in the art that ii' the direction of the current in both the lield and the armature were reversed, the direction of rotation of the armature would not be reversed. As hereinbeiorc stated, the ears and 16 oecupy one-fourth oi thedianieter of the drum 7 as do also the plates 1.7 and 18 5' the two intervening spaces between said ears and plates are occupied by insulating material.

It will be seen fromv Fig, 10, that when the circuit will be opened and the motor will be at rest. The reversing drum may also be constructed to accommodate a shunt Wound The means for rotating the reversing drum is described as follows: lt has been hereinbefore stated', that the drum 7 is mounted on shaft 12, the latter being journaled in bearin's 21 on the base 22. Mounted upon this sliiaft 12v is a ratchet wheel 23 engaged by a awl 24 and retaining pawl 32, said ratchet w reel 23 being provided with any number of teeth which isa Inuitiple of four. In the drawings, l have shown sixteen teeth in said wheel. The paw] 24 is actuated from the decoherer, and upon said decohercr being actuated, the drum 7 will be moved forward to the extent el' one tooth of the ratchet wheel. It will be seen from the description ol' the reversing mechanism, that it is necessary to rotate the druni 7 one-fourth of a revefntion to change the direction oi current to the motor 5, and the purpose in providing rnuhli'picity oi' ratchet teeth foreach change outside or foreign in'lluences. When the torpedo mechanism is in operation and lt is desired to change the conditlon of thenio'tor i masia other transmitting station, the drum 7.will

be moved forward one tooth and the connections to the motor will not be changed owing to the brushes 9 and 10 being stiil upon the ears 1.5 and 16 or ,plates 17 and 18 as the case may be. It wiil be understood that the greater the number of teeth on the ratchet wheel 23, the greater` will be the freedom from outside interference or iniiuence. The paw) 24 is controlled by a spring 25, both of which are mounted on the armature 26 of the 'decoheren sce Figs. 3 and 4. The said armature is pivotcd at 27, and the extent of its movement is eontroiled by' screws 28, a spring 2&9 maintaining said armaturein an u' wardl position. The armature is provided with a taplpet which is adapted to engage and deco 1ere the coherer 3l. Mounted below said armature on the base 22 is a magnet 42 adapted to influence said armature. It will be seen that upon the lmagnet being magnetized the armature will be drawn down and the ratchet wheel 23 will be moved forward to the extent of one tooth. The deooherer may be used as a sounder in transl mittinf signals. I employ the well known form oi? coherer consisting of a glass tube having two terminals in -ciose proximit and between which are placed metallic linge. The tappet 30 provides the usual form of deeoherer, but in practice, I havel found that this form is not reliable, consequentl in my system l empio an auxiliary deco 'ercr to make positive t 1e o erations of decohering the things. Mountc on a base 33 is a magnet 234 which is adapted to intiucncc an armature 35 pivoted at 36 and the movement of which is regulated by screws 37; a spring 38 hoids said armature in an'u ward position. This armature-35 is providedj with a tappet 39 which is 'adapted to engage the coherer 31. Mounted on said armature is a leaf spring 40 which engages a screw 41 havin f a platinum contact with said spring. `lt wil be understood when' the armature 35, is drawn down, the spring 40 will recede from the screw 41., and as the .current which energizes the magnet 34 passes through this spring and screw, the circuit will be broken,

and as the spring 38 will immediately reestablish the circuit, there will be a continuous series of taps on the coherer 31, which will he continued until the circuit through the cohercr is destroyed.. The magnet 42 of the deeoherer and the'magnet 34 of the auxiliary decoherer are connected in parallel to the relay'43 through battery 44; this circuit is chown in Fig. 2 by aline consisting ,of long dashes; the relay 43 is of the Well known form. The coherer 31 is mounted in any suitable manner and'one of its terminals 4 5 is connected to a mast 46, and the other. ter- `minal 47 is connected to the ground48.

V These connections carry the Hertz wavecur'- rent and are shown in Fig. 2 as a continuous line. The terminals 45 and 47 of the coherer 31 are connected to theA magnet 514 of the vrelay 43 through choke coils 49 and a battery 50 in the usual way this circuit is represented in Fig. 2 by a line oi' short dashes.

' key 53, a current of high potential is induced in the secondary coil causing a spark to pass between the globes 57. The passage of this spark generates electric waves yotherwise knownas Hertz waves which influence the coherer 31/in such a manner that the resistance of the filings in the said'coherer is reducedy to an extent which allows a current from the battery toenergizethe magnet v51 ofthe relay 43. ,The choke coils 49 are of high resistance and compel the Hertz waves to travel through. the coherer.

Themeans. for observing the path and direction of the torpedo is described as follows.:

Referring to Figs. 7 and 13( 58 designates a lamp mounted on a mast 4 6 on the torpedo; 59 is a similar lamp on the stern of the torpedo; these lamps are continuously burning owing to their connection with' a battery. Mounted on eachside of the torpedo are two lamps 'and 61which are connected to a battery as shown in Fig. 2. The connection of these lamps is such that upon the motor 5 rotating vin a certainA direction, one of said lamps will burn and uponthe vmotor being reversed, the other lamp will burn' While the one .previously burning will be extinguished. If the motor is at rest, neither of these lamps will burn. From Fig. 13, it will be seen that the lam 59 is in the reVar of the lamp 58, consequent y, if the torpedo is moving from the operator and the lamp 59 moves. to the left' O the lamp 58, the operatonwill observe that the torpedo is going to the right, and if the lamp 59 moves to the right of' the lampl By thfaid of the lamps 60 and 61, the. operator 58, the reverse of the above is the case.

' 'enabled to know Whether the mechanism mechanism through which these lights 60 inthe tbrpledo is responding to the pulsations sen-t out y the transmitting station. The

and 61 are` control ed is described as follows:

The connections are illustrated in Fig. 2, formed by aline of dashes with -two dots intervening between each two of said dashes. Mounted upon the shaft 62 of the steering motor 5, is an arm 63 having a carbon terminal 64--see Figs. 11 and 12. The arm 63 is provided.with a spring 65 which presses 70 against the shaft 62; the friction between the spring 65 and shaft 62 is sufficient to turn the arm 63 with said shaft, so that in whatever direction the shaft 62 rotates, the positionof the arm 63 is determined. The carbon terminal 64 is adapted to' engage either of two carbon terminals 66 and 67 on each side of the shaft 62; the carbon terminal 67' is connected to one of the terminals of the lamp 60, and the terminal-66 is connected to one of the terminals of the lamp 61. T he other terminal of the lamp 61 is connected to the circuit 68, and the other terminal of the lamp 60 is connected to the motor circuit at 70. The carbon terminal64 on the arm- 63 isconnected through the shaft bearing of the motor 5, to the circuit'at 69. When the terminal 64 engages the terminal 66 as shown in Fig.I 2, the current coming from thebat'- tery will pass throughthe connection 69; 90 the shaft 62; the arm 63; vtermir/ial'64; terminal 66; lamp 61'; connectin" 68; brush 10; ear 16; ring 14; brush 11; to the batteryhwhereas, if the terminal 64 engages the terminal 67, .the current from the battery will pass through connection 69 shaft 62; arm 63; terminal 64; terminal 67; lamp 60; connection 70; brush 9; plate 17; connection 19; ring 14; brush 11, to the battery..

, It will be understood that if the brushes 1 'not short circuit any part of the motor owing 105 to their being of the necessary resistance.

I claim as my invention. A In a system of Wireless vtelegraphy, a transmitting station, a coherer, a singletapping decoherer engaging said coherer, an auX- iliary-vib'rating decoherer engaging said coherer and adapted to create a series ofvibrations in the coherer while the current is passing through said Acoherer until said' current is interrupted, and means whereby said single-tapping decoherer and said auxiliaryvibrating decoherer are actuated when the 'coherer receives impulses from the transmitting station.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature, in presence oftwo witnesses.

LEVITT E. oUsTER. 

